Chester Martin: David Steinberg Makes A Most-Welcome Correction

Friday, November 16, 2018 - by Chester Martin

It is a pleasure to have corrections to my stories when the results will be helpful, and especially when they come from true experts in the field - in this case, David Steinberg, whom many readers will remember from his Chattanooga Choo Choo days. I personally remember him from many occasions when he was functioning as "Conductor" on the yellow streetcar which made periodic circuits around the old station's parking lot, returning after a nice long ride to its starting point on the southernmost platform.

David Steinberg's comportment and appearance as a tall, thin, immaculately uniformed and bearded Streetcar Conductor could make you feel like you were taking an actual trip on a Chattanooga streetcar of the early 1900's. He would be ringing up fares while his passengers were finding seats, and before taking his position at the car's throttle.

Anyway, David was amicably in touch about some errors I made in a recent story showing what I mistakenly termed the "Trio" postmark. As I have said, Mr. Steinberg is an expert in the field of local railroads and streetcar lines. He has written at least three paperback books on the subject of Chattanooga's city railroads which show the routes of everyone of them.These streetcars (called "trams" in other locales) all disappeared from our streets before 1950 leaving not a trace. (David says the actual date was April 11th, 1947). Only David's books and vintage photos are left to inform the younger generations of their pre-eminence in earlier times. One of those books discusses the former entire Chattanooga municipal transportation system which included both streetcars and buses, and the Chattanooga Public Library has a lot more of his research archived there.

In my story, originally published here on October 16th, I made the claim that the word "TRIO" on the postmark referred to the trio of cities indicated: "CHATTROME&ATLANTA", and I failed to deal at all with the letters "R.P.O." at the very bottom of said postmark. I was admittedly negligent in not checking the facts, though Mr. Steinberg graciously overlooks those transgressions.I was relying on things my dad used to talk about 70 years and more ago, and my memory was/is blurry!Turns out that my interpretation of the letters "TRIO" was totally wrong: it stands for "Train 10" - a Railway Post Office (R.P.O.) train - which made a daily (weekday) circuit from Chattanooga to Rome and Atlanta. That train has long since been deleted and the tracks taken up! I think it traveled on the Southern Railway route, whose northern terminus was at Union Depot (of which I did a print many years ago), and which stood across MLK Boulevard (then called West 9th Street) from the Read House in downtown Chattanooga. It had no connection with our "Chattanooga Choo Choo" hotel facility, which was then called, "Terminal Station".

If you want to find out much more about local railroads (with lots of pictures) I strongly recommend John Wilson's great book, "Railroads In And Around Chattanooga" (available at Zarzour's Restaurant on Rossville Avenue, near where it turns off Main Street). I was truly astounded by all the good, clear photos that John found and printed in that book which can help younger train lovers mentally reconstruct the days when passenger trains abounded here.

As for David H. Steinberg's books - he has the three mentioned above, with possibly at least one more in the planning.I find none on Amazon, but at least one on Ebay. Obviously getting rarer by the minute, I hope your search will be fruitful!Keywords are, "Chattanooga Transportation".

So I apologize to both John Wilson, Owner of this daily newspaper, for "getting it wrong", and also to David Steinberg, whose expertise threw light on my errors.

My thanks to both!

Chester Martin

February 8, 2019

Signal Mountain Genealogical Society Meets March 5

February 5, 2019

Wayne Shearer’s World War II Memoir, Part 9: Finally Getting A Taste Of Flying!

February 3, 2019

Picnooga Kicks Off 5th Year With 5 Rare Photos Of 1890s Chattanooga

The Signal Mountain Genealogical Society will meet at 1 p.m. on Tuesday , March 5 , at the Walden Town Hall, 1836 Taft Highway.
Refreshments will be served followed by a brief business meeting ... (click for more)

(Editor’s Note: Dr. Wayne Shearer, 94, is a retired optometrist and retired colonel from the U.S. Air Force Reserve now living in Hixson. In his early 90s, he decided to sit down and write from ... (click for more)

Five rare views of Chattanooga recently surfaced and were acquired by Picnooga, a local history project. Each image was taken in the early 1890s from a position on Cameron Hill by an amateur ... (click for more)

The Signal Mountain Genealogical Society will meet at 1 p.m. on Tuesday , March 5 , at the Walden Town Hall, 1836 Taft Highway.
Refreshments will be served followed by a brief business meeting and program.
The speaker for the day will be Amy Petulla, the owner and founder of the Chattanooga Ghost Tours. She will present an exciting, fun, and chilling program entitled, "Haunted ... (click for more)

(Editor’s Note: Dr. Wayne Shearer, 94, is a retired optometrist and retired colonel from the U.S. Air Force Reserve now living in Hixson. In his early 90s, he decided to sit down and write from memory and a few records he still possesses his recollections of going through Army Air Corps pilot training at several bases in the United States during World War II. A lifelong writer, ... (click for more)

Hamilton County Schools will be closed on Friday due to the amount of rain that has fallen in the last few hours and the amount expected between now and tomorrow.
School-age child care will be open at seven locations from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. to assist parents. The locations for child care are: Battle Academy, East Brainerd Elementary, East Ridge Elementary, Harrison Elementary, ... (click for more)

A city report says an instructor over police academies had a pattern of sexual harassment against female cadets.
Two female trainees initially filed the complaint against instructor Ricky Ballard.
Ballard was suspended earlier this month for 160 hours without pay over the sexual allegations.
Four female cadets said they received unwanted hugs from Ballard. They said Ballard ... (click for more)

Please remember to check on folks that are vulnerable which includes the elderly and homebound. With expectations of up to 7 inches or more of rain, we may see flooding in areas that rival those of the past.
As Chief Roddy told me this morning, be proactive, not reactive. Pack for an extended stay at work or someone's house. Be ready with extra food, water and blanket in your ... (click for more)

Mayor Berke,
On September 5, 2017, you asked and were granted a 22-cent property tax increase for city government operations and a capital fund.
At the meeting, the City Council approved your proposal for the property tax increase of 22 cents per $100 of property assessment. As a result, every business, home owner, and property owner had one-month notice that their local property ... (click for more)